What The Animals Have Taught Me

Animals are so straightforward. They don’t look too far outside themselves for the answers.

Animals need love, food, shelter. That’s it.

I was going to add exercise, but you know, that’s a domesticated thing. If you’re being chased by a lion, (or you’re chasing an antelope, for that matter), you’ve got no use for a treadmill.

Animals have the gift of knowing what they want, in the moment. That’s so cool.

And believe me, I get it. I get that humans are here to plan and steward, that if we actually followed the way of Walt Whitman and turned to live with the animals, we’d find ourselves cold, wet and hungry and pissed off.

BUT- wouldn’t it be cool to be in the moment? To lay down when you’re tired. And eat when you’re hungry. And play ball and frisbee, and yes, maybe mix it up with a dog that’s trying to hump you?

Why don’t we know what we want?

Why do we spend so much time chasing stuff we don’t want? Or buying stuff we don’t want and then working at jobs we don’t like to pay for it?

Animals trust their instinct. For better or worse. We don’t. We do anything but. We cerebralize our lives. We process our emotions. We live life without getting dirty.

What is that about?

I’ve spent nearly 3 months not advertising my work with people. I thought I was just having some sort of resistance, that if I could just get over my writer’s block, I could open the doors again.

I’ve been spinning down since October.

I blamed myself. I have these gifts. I should use them. I should help people. Why am I not excited?

And then this morning, at 2:30 am (Thank you, Olive, for your late-night potty break), it hit me. The help I’m giving people–> It’s not the help that people need. And as importantly, it’s not the help I want to give.

It’s not my instinct.

And suddenly, what had felt like a wet smoldering, within me, turned into real heat.

I’m not here to hand-hold and get people through today.

I’m here to reset bones. I want to reset the spiritual bones.

I’m not a sugar tit. I have something against sugar tits right now.

So, for my people clients, I say, unless you are ready to do vital work with me, to be brave and to really want to engage with life, hire someone else.

If you’re ready to have your spiritual bones reset, and to start walking through life with purpose, I’m here for you. For everybody else, my give-a-damn is busted.

If you’re not ready to tune into your instinct, and turn off the other voices that run your life, you’ve got something that you need to work out on your own. And that’s cool. But don’t do it in my office.

There are people who need hand-holding right now. I’m not knocking them. But you might not be one of them.

Instinct matters. Gut matters. The world matters. Being a global citizen and making things better matters. Tuning into nature matters. Being connected matters.